Sophie Angus – Just a sophisticated girl who wants to travel the world

Recently I was watching a television program about a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge who undertook a 2 year study on the behavioural traits of meerkats. The program went into detail about the way in which meerkats teach their pups how to hunt (ABC Science 2006). The adult meerkats were shown actively teaching their young to take the stinger off a scorpion, making it safe to eat (National Geographic 2006). The program described these animals and their teaching habits as being ‘just like humans’.

According to Barras (2008), “animals behavioural studies are blurring the boundaries between humans and animals.” Our tendency to anthropomorphize is increasingly common as the barrier between humans and animals weakens.

Anthropomorphism is defined as “the attributing of human characteristics and purposes to intimate objects, animals, plants, or other natural phenomena.” (The American Heritage 2005). The act of anthropomorphism is something I have been exposed to from a young age due to movies making animals ‘come alive’.

Take for example ‘Bambi’ (1943), Last time I checked, deers do not talk. However the adventures of Bambi (who amazingly knows how to speak the English language), include ice skating, singing and making friends with other talking animals such as birds, rabbits and owls (Disney-Pixar 2017). As a young child, this movie made me believe that animals really could talk, hence why I so easily attributed human characteristics to all of my childhood pets.

Through-out my childhood, the anthropomorphism kept coming from TV shows such as Corneil and Bernie to Selby, a series of books featuring the only talking dog in Australia (Duncan Ball N.D). It seemed like second nature to me to attribute such human-like characteristics to animals. After all, I spent 6 years of my life honestly believing that dogs could actually talk.

Anthropomorphism is constantly appearing online. From videos of dancing birds to talking cats, footage of animals behaving like humans has gone viral. According to Holly Dunsworth, an anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island, “it’s like the internet was built for anthropomorphizing animals.” (Milman 2016). And she’s not wrong. There’s nothing more than satisfying than seeing a video in your Facebook newsfeed of a furry critter talking to their humans.

So why is it that we are so set on giving animals human traits?

According to Nauert (2015), we are quite selective in what we anthropomorphize. This selectively comes from similarity with the things we apply human traits to. “An entity is more likely to be anthropomorphized if it appears to have many traits similar to those of humans” (Nauert 2015). We as humans are able to relate to animals for a number of reasons. A study by Liverpool John Moores University revealed that animals share many of the same emotions as humans, as well as behavioural traits such as grooming, hygiene habits and social relationships (phys.org 2005). However according to Serpell (2002), “the attribution of human mental states to non-human animals” is just another distinction of anthropomorphism.

Whilst animals do share some of the same characteristics as you and I, they are far from being human, so is it wrong to apply such traits to them? Patricia Ganea, psychologist at Toronto University, believes anthropomorphism leads to an unrealistic understanding of biological processes (Milman 2016). She adds, “It can also lead to inappropriate behaviors towards wild animals, such as trying to adopt a wild animal as a ‘pet’ or misinterpreting the actions of a wild animal.”

Take for example the story of Tilikum, a killer whale who was kept in captivity at Sea World, Orlando who quickly became a famous amusement at the park. Tilikum had a demanding schedule at Sea World, performing live shows for huge audiences each and every day (Sea World of Hurt 2017). Depsite Sea World trainers claiming they had ‘a close relationship’ with the Orca, being kept in captivity caused stress for the mammal. Over time his frustration built up, leading to aggressive behaviour towards humans. During his time at Sea World Tilikum was responsible for killing 3 trainers (Howard 2017).

This is just one example of how anthropomorphism can have negative consequences. As much as we want to pretend animals are just like humans, there are clear differences in our behaviours. Animals are not equipped to be treated a human and crossing that line, in some circumstances, can be dangerous.

Personally, I believe anthropomorphism itself doesn’t cause negative consequences. It is the way in which one interacts with animals that can cause problems to occur. It’s important to treat animals as animals. Whilst some animals are human-like, ultimately they will never be a human, so we must not treat them like they are.

You’re walking through the streets of the city on your way home on a Thursday afternoon. It’s just on dusk. The sun is beginning to set and people are hurrying, in a rush to get out of the cold.

You come across a small child siting in the street. The child is wearing minimal clothing, clearly not dressed for the middle of winter. He looks scared, cold, tired and hungry. You notice him clutching onto a plastic bag. Inside are the remains of somebody’s lunch as the young boy attempts to feed his small, fragile body. Your first instinct is to go over and help him right?

Now step into the shoes of a photo journalist. You see the same child. Sitting on the sidewalk. You notice that he is cold, starving and scared and know the pain on his face is real. Real tears. Real fear. You instantly take the $6000 Nikon D4 out of your bag. The pain on that poor child’s face would look even better through the lens of a camera. The blur of the crowd in the background. The sun that has almost disappeared gives the shot the perfect contrast. The lighting is perfect to capture the look of devastation on that child’s face. After all, this picture would look great in a coffee table book, right?

Welcome to photo journalism. Where the suffering of others suddenly becomes an art form. Somewhat captivating. Where beauty is not pain, but pain is beauty. Capturing images that I would describe as poverty porn.

According to Collin (2009), poverty porn is “any type of media, be it written, photographed or filmed, which exploit’s the poor’s condition in order to generate the necessary sympathy for…increasing charitable donations or support for a given cause.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for giving to charity, but do images exploiting the pain and suffering of others take it too far?

When it comes to photography, and in particular, photojournalism, there is a code of ethics that one must abide by when capturing images. According to the National Press Photography Association (2017), when taking photographs one must “give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims or crime or tragedy.” If one were to take a photo of an emaciated child and ask for charity money after posting it on the internet, does that count as an act of compassion?

The above photo titled ‘Starving Child and Vulture’ by Kevin Carter (1993), was an award winning shot, gaining a Pulitzer Prize for best feature photography (The Pulitzer Prizes 2017). However opinions were divided with many people arguing that the steps taken by the photojournalist were “unethical” and “inhumane.” Harsh criticism was recieved by Carter for his work, despite claims by the photographer that the child was making her way to a nearby feeding centre (Neal 2017).

It is a natural human response to want to help someone who is in pain. But do images like this show the suffering of others for all the wrong reasons? In the words of Dortonne (2016), images that can be defined as ‘poverty porn’, “leaves many of us feeling uncomfortable, disconnected and guilty.” We feel pressured into donating to a charitable cause in the hope that we have ‘done the right thing’. Donations may help, but it still doesn’t stop the exploitation of impoverished human beings in order to generate sympathy.

Not only do these images exploit the conditions of people in poverty, but they seem to be mainly focused on undeveloped countries. A quick google search of ‘poverty porn pictures’ yields thousands of results of children from Somalia, Ethiopia, Chad and the like. The images are centered around some of the most undeveloped countries in the world. But did anyone stop to think about poverty in Australia? Are there not people suffering in Australia? Living below the poverty line? Sleeping on the streets because they can’t afford to live in a house?

A study by the Australian Council of Social Service (2016a), found that 2.9 million Australians live below the poverty line. 730,000 of these people are children. Those at the highest risk of poverty are the unemployed who rely on centrelink payments to get by. “Those doing it the toughest are overwhelmingly people living on the $38 a day Newstart payment, 55% of whom are in poverty” (Australian Council of Social Service 2016b). Sadly, even with government assistance, some families are still far below the poverty line, barely affording to pay rent each week. But when it comes to poverty, the media turns a blind eye towards these Australians, shifting the focus to children in Uganda or women in Somalia.

So whilst these images exploiting starving African children are trying to make a change, it causes us to ignore the issues of poverty in our own backyard. The photographs have too much of a focus on areas outside our reach, exploiting children in Africa to try and make a buck. Meanwhile it could be our own neighbours who are suffering, living below the poverty line and struggling to survive.

A mention of the word “selfie” is generally followed by a collective eye-roll from everyone in the room who is under the age of 17. Selfies are generally perceived as being “narcissistic” and “attention seeking”. But is the infamous self-portrait photograph with your mobile phone an act of narcissism or an act of empowerment?

Selfies and Narcissism

The link between selfies and narcissism is associated with the assumption that such photos are taken to show off one’s physical appearance. The act of taking and uploading a photo of oneself to the internet is not a new phenomenon. According to a study by the Pew Research Center (2013), 91% of American teens with a Facebook account upload photos of themselves. A further study conducted at Elon University interviewed 93 students about their photo uploading habits. 97.8% of the interviewees reported that they believe a person’s popularity is determined by the amount of likes they receive on their profile pictures (Wickel 2015). Further research revealed that 90.2% of students interviewed upload photos to social media for the sole purpose of gaining likes (Wickel 2015). I’m not sure about you, but to me this seems like a rather narcissistic act. But why has society suddenly become so worried about how they look in a photograph?

According to Jesse Fox (2015), leader of a study at Ohio State University, “with the growing use of social networks, everyone is more concerned with their appearance.” This has led to self-objectification becoming a significant issue within society. With the growing pressures to fit in to society and the prevalence of social media in our lives, teenagers feel the need to create “desirable online identities”, especially when it comes to photos of themselves (Wickel 2015, Gregorie 2015). Studies revealed that teens believe social media sites are essential to their life, as well as posting photos that are impressive to their audience (Pew Research Center 2015, Wickel 2015). Evidently, the habit of selfie taking can be linked to traits of narcissism due to excessive interest and self admiration being one of the motivations for uploading photos on social media.

Selfies and Empowerment

There have been recent discussions within society that suggest taking selfies can actually be a form of empowerment rather than an act of self-obsession. Various social media campaigns have prompted men and women to take a selfie, and upload the photo online in support of numerous social causes. The power of the selfie has been used to raise awareness for a number of prevalent societal issues such as depression, objectification of women, and mental health disorders. Not only do these campaigns change the way in which taking a selfie is perceived, but they also prove to be effective ways of making a change.

Take for example the #nomakeupselfie campaign. With the aim of raising money for cancer research, women took to the internet, posting barefaced selfies as well as making donations to Cancer Research UK or the American Cancer Society. The hashtag went viral and people all over the world jumped on board to support the cause. The social media campaign was so successful that 8 million pound was raised in just 2 days (Dockterman 2014).

In this circumstance, the act of taking selfies was seen in a positive light, as a form of empowerment and encouragement to raise funds for a good cause. Not only did the campaign bring awareness to the importance of cancer research, but it also taught women that it is okay to be photographed in their own skin. In particular, without layers of caked on makeup and the perfect angles and lighting and instagram filters (yep, that’s right, without the narcissistic traits).

The Dove brand is also well known for encouraging empowerment in women through their self-esteem project (Unilever 2017). The company aims to “build positive body confidence” and promote healthy relationships between a person and their appearance. The #beautyis campaign again makes use of the selfie as a form of empowerment. Dove set a challenge for women of all ages to take an honest selfie, without editing the photo, or using a filter (Gould 2014). The aim of the campaign was to prove that all women are beautiful in their own ways, no matter their flaws. The campaign took away all forms of self-obsession and excessive interest in physical appearance. Women began supporting others in uploading photos, encouraging others and ensuring them that everyone has their own special kind of beauty (Gould 2014, Unilever 2017). That to me is pretty damn empowering.

The Verdict?

So are selfies an act of narcissism or an act of empowerment? Personally, I believe selfies can be seen in two different lights, however it is the context that changes what message a photo will send. Perhaps a photo with a duck face pose paired with a caption about how much you love yourself won’t send out an empowerment vibe. Similarly, posting a photo in support of a social cause won’t be deemed narcissistic. Whatever the motivation behind the photograph is, people should be able to take photos however they like (perhaps just make sure it’s internet appropriate before posting it on all 6 of your social media accounts).

A few months ago, I uploaded a blog proposing an idea for a digital research task that I planned to conduct. It comes with great pleasure (and so much god damn relief) to have completed my project after a long month of work.

This short video (or digital narrative if you will) focuses on a university student by the name of Chloe that I studied using ethnographic research. The animated clip explores how Chloe interacts with her mobile device when studying, and how mobile phones, social media apps and other devices become distractions when completing work. Through observations and interviews, I gained valuable qualitative data that left me with a greater understanding of how students behave when mobile devices are present in study spaces.

The story-telling video focuses on media audience practices and is told from perspective of Chloe. It explores the elements of media, audience and place and the ways in which media practices and audience experiences are spatial in nature.

Media: Mobile phonesAudience: University studentsPlace: Study spaces

The first part of this video is an animated representation of Chloe in an average day of study. Towards the end of the video the results from the ethnographic research are shown, revealing the patterns in Chloe’s mobile usage habits when studying.

Explore the life of Chloe, as she shows you a day in the life of a university student. The short, animated video focuses on how Chloe interacts with her mobile phone when she is really meant to be studying. Will procrastination get the better of her? Watch and find out!

I hope you enjoy the video. Don’t forget to leave a comment below on how you use your mobile phone when studying (or perhaps you’re a good student and don’t use it at all).

Living out of home sounds like a tough gig right? It shocked me the first time I learnt that my clothes don’t actually wash themselves, iron themselves and magically end up back in my room in a nice neat pile. And dishes don’t wash themselves either. What’s up with that!?

After living out of home for almost 3 years now (it’s amazing I’m still alive), I’ve definitely learnt a thing or two on how to pull through.

Living in a share house is a good idea

Living in a share house can get pretty frustrating at times. Whether it’s that one roomie that plays his heavy metal tunes way past midnight, or the other one who only does their dishes once a fortnight, living with other people won’t be fine and dandy 24/7. But there is one massive upside to living with housemates, and that is saving on bills. Living in a share house means that bills will be cheaper as expenses will be split between you and your roomies. Does $80 a month for internet seem too pricey? No biggie, you and your flatmates will split the costs, meaning you won’t be spending a fortune on living costs.

2. Shopping for groceries can actually be cheap

One word; Aldi. Aldi is basically a supermarket heaven for people (like students) who don’t have a never ending budget to spend on food. Shopping at Aldi saves me a ridiculous amount of money. I can get away with spending $50 on food that will last me an entire fortnight. Buying food in bulk and freezing small portions saves you money in the long run. More food for less money, who could complain about that?

Another trick I’ve developed is doing my grocery shopping late at night. Shopping at Coles and Woolies past 8 o’clock = bulk discounts. Supermarkets greatly reduce the prices of food that may be expiring soon. This is the prime time for picking up some cheap snacks to eat over the next couple of days.

3. Having to do your own cleaning isn’t so bad

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your house doesn’t actually clean itself. But seriously, cleaning ain’t even that bad. I have developed a habit of cleaning my house whenever I find myself procrastinating. I can avoid studying and do something productive at the same time. By homework may not be completed but at least I have a clean house to procrastinate in. Procrasta-cleaning. It’s actually a thing.

But on a more serious note, if you do happen to live with roomies, chose a day where you can all chip in and do some housework. More helping hands = less work for you. Plus the job gets done in no time and you can retreat back to your room sooner for another Netflix binge session.

4. Your house may become the new hangout spot

If you happen to be the only one in your friendship group to have left the nest, chances are your place will become infiltrated with visitors in no time. Who would want to hang out at their parents house when you have your own place for your friends to trash? But really, all social events will now take place at your house. Need a place to have pre-drinks? It will be at your house. Want to have a movie night with your mates? It will be at your house. Want to have a nice dinner with your friends? It will be at your mate’s parents house because cooking kinda sucks right? Just get used to the fact that having your own place is totally awesome, and your friends think so too.

5. So. Much. Freedom.

The best thing I learn about living of home is that I now have so much damn freedom. Living out of home literally gives you the opportunity to do whatever you like. If you want to eat an entire packet of Tim Tams in one night and stay up until 4am googling Harambe memes, then you can do just that. You won’t have your parents nagging you to make your bed or clean the bombshell that is your bedroom. You can absolutely trash your room and leave it for a week and no one will even question you (as long as you keep the door closed).

So there you have it, just a few things I’ve learnt whilst living out of home. Do you have anything else to add to the survival list? Leave a comment down below!

There aren’t many places these days where people aren’t allowed to use their phones (maybe church is an exception). But the use of mobile phones has just become a part of everyday life.

Waiting to walk across the road at the traffic lights? Why not check your phone.

Standing in line at the bank? Why not check your phone.

Waiting for the train to arrive? Once again, this seems like a pretty appropriate time to check your phone.

So this is exactly what I did when waiting at the doctors surgery last week. I sat down in the waiting area, glanced over at the pile of ridiculously outdated magazines placed on the table next to me, then proceeded to unlock my phone and scroll through Facebook. It wasn’t until a lady walking past caught my attention that I looked up and saw the sign pinned to the wall behind her. “Please refrain from using mobile devices in this area”. The picture of a mobile phone with a red cross through it right in front of my face. This form of media regulation started to worry me.

I immediately felt self-conscious and looked around me at the other people in the waiting room. A mum trying to settle her two young children. An elderly man watching the news on the waiting room TV. Another woman in her mid 30’s, reading an article on balcony gardening. No one else was on their phones. Was I just one of those stereotypical ‘young people’, constantly glued to my phone and ignoring the rules?

As I placed my phone back into my handbag and grabbed a magazine from 2004, I started to think why the use of phones would be banned in a doctors waiting room. I can understand how someone talking on the phone would be quite irritating, but why should I be banned from checking my Instagram whilst waiting for an appointment?

A frantic google search when I got home answered a few of my concerns:

Current phones cause very little interference with medical equipment. Modern medical equipment is shielded so that phone interference does not affect the machines (Hammond 2013). Considering there is very little equipment of such in a doctor’s surgery, this is evidently not reason as to why phone use is banned.

Taking photographs in a doctor’s surgery is a big no-no. According to the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Cellular Telephone and Other Wireless Communication Device Use Policy, taking photographs of of patients for non-clinical purposes is strictly prohibited (UNC School of Medicine 2016).

Phone calls are another no-no in waiting rooms. Not only is it extremely annoying when someone decides to have a personal conversation at the top of their voice in a quiet space, but if the doctor is on a strict time schedule. If they have to wait for a patient just to finish their conversation about what casserole to have for dinner, it puts all of their appointments behind for the rest of the day.

My research still didn’t answer the question I had about not being able to play angry birds in the waiting room. Until I stumbled across an article on The Huffington Post site. According to Lisa Mirza Grotts (2014), phone use in the doctors surgery all comes down to etiquette. Mobile phone use is not necessarily restricted in waiting rooms, but not being halfway through updating your Facebook status when the doctor is calling your name is just common courtesy.

This type of media regulation purely exists to speed up the process of doctor-patient interactions and to reduce waiting times. Not because the world thinks young people are addicted to social media (not a proven fact, may still be true). But let’s face it, I probably can survive if I don’t check my phone for 20 minutes whilst waiting for a doctor to diagnose my sickness.

“Young people are always on their phones!” says every middle aged person ever, “They can’t even go five minutes without checking Facebook.”

In a recent study done by me (yes, I’m an expert) I found that there may be more truth to this statement than I had previously thought. I completely deny the statement every time I hear it, claiming I can survive perfectly fine with not checking a message or ignoring a notification. But that may not be the case for everyone.

Last week I took it upon myself to set up a small informal test to see what happens to someone’s attention in the presence of multiple media devices. At first I had a lot of difficulty deciding on how to actually conduct the test as all of my ideas were far too complicated to implement. Eventually I decided on something simple, yet effective, that would give me an indication of how individuals perform in the presence of both study material and mobile devices.

What: A texting testWho: Me (conducting the test) and Chloe, a classmate (the subject in the experiment)Why: To see how an individual responds in the presence of multiple media devicesHow: By sending Facebook messages to Chloe whilst she is studying to see how her attention changes

I chose to conduct the test one afternoon whilst studying in the University library with a classmate. Chloe was unaware that I was conducting the test, and this ensured that all her responses were genuine. We sat down in the quiet study area of the library in separate booths, which worked perfectly for the purpose of my experiment.

I saw my Chloe open a textbook, a word document, and an internet tab. Straight onto Facebook. She quickly checked messenger on her iPhone then placed it next to her laptop and began typing away at her study notes. I told her I was going to print off my own study notes and made my way over to the printers. This is when the test began. I sent a Facebook message to Chloe asking a general question about printing (so as to not make it seem so suss). Instantly the message came up as ‘seen’ and three dots appeared indicating Chloe was typing back to me. I waited a minute before replying and received a message back instantly. Again, I waited a few minutes before sending a message back to my classmate. Sure enough I received another reply within seconds (so much for studying, Chloe). This indicated to me that when in the presence of multiple media devices, the attention of my subject was diverted away from study as soon as social media became active. It also indicated that Facebook was a major distraction for Chloe.

Upon collecting my study notes and making my way back my to my study nook, I sat back down next to Chloe. I decided to give the experiment one more crack. This time instead of messaging Chloe, I decided to tag her in something on Facebook. Since my classmate was ‘busy studying’, I was under the assumption that the notification would not capture her attention. I found a funny post on Facebook and tagged Chloe in the comments. Not even a minute later I heard laughter to my left. Chloe had seen the post. A notification on my own Facebook indicated she had liked the post, a definite conformation that she had looked at the photo.

Overall, the results from my small test showed that when exposed to multiple media devices, the attention of a student studying is quickly diverted when other platforms become active. When exposed to a social media such as Facebook, Chloe’s attention was immediately turned away from studying.

So perhaps the middle aged people were right, maybe we really can’t go 5 minutes without checking Facebook.